I have a somewhat puzzling issue that I'm trying to resolve and I'm running into a brick wall.

We have a software at a client site that they access from the server via a mapped drive and are experiencing network lag issues. They also just got a new server setup with 2 Raid 1 - with one set of 10K drives and another pair of 15K SaaS drives. The software has a very small resource footprint and requires no registry file entries. In most cases with all our other clients there is no issue with a similar setup.

My question is that is there anything I've missed that might account for the network lag being experienced- either from the server side or the workstation side. Any help or suggestions would be welcomed. Also If there's anything that I've left out from the scenario I've laid out that needs further explanation, please let me know as well.

Some items that I have noticed that may cause a workstation slowdown are the presence of 2 real time scan engines (Microsoft Security Essentials and ESET NOD32). Having 2 of these components active means that each file and some network traffic will be scanned twice for malicious content as files are being introduced into the system.

Next, it appears that you are running ESET NOD32 on a Server. If a Windows server, you should consider running ESET File Security for Windows Server as it has exclusions based on Server roles and is made with Server builds in mind and are lighter than the client builds due to this. You could then boost performance by following this KB article to set the File Security installation with the settings for a terminal server as notated in this ESET KB article: http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN2791

Lastly, you will want to ensure that the ESET setting to 'Scan Network Drives' is disabled. To do so, open the ESET application and press 'F5' > Expand 'Computer' > Expand 'Antivirus and Antispyware' > Click on "Real Time Filesystem Protection' > on the right, un-check 'Network Drives'.

Its a piece of software that is accessed over the network via mapped drive. The software is a Practice Management software that the staff use to keep track of patients, scheduling and billing. But it requires no installation or registration of files. You just have a folder on a server, and share it. Then from the workstations, you create a mapped drive from that share, setup an icon, and Bob's you're uncle (you're finished).

So there is no copying of any sort.

As I said the server is relatively new. I haven't seen it or set it up as we're only supposed responsible for the one software they are using. But from talking with the IT people that did setup the server, they told me its a Dell PowerEdge.

The lag is experienced on the workstations - especially when numerous users on workstations when accessing the software at once, experience lag or the program temporarily freezing when performing different functions.

Again, we have numerous clients that have our software that don't experience this. So I'm pretty confident its the way their network is setup- so its really a matter of figuring out what may cause network lags in general when you have software that users access over the network- which would hopefully lend some clues to the situation I'm trying to remedy.

Some items that I have noticed that may cause a workstation slowdown are the presence of 2 real time scan engines (Microsoft Security Essentials and ESET NOD32). Having 2 of these components active means that each file and some network traffic will be scanned twice for malicious content as files are being introduced into the system.

Next, it appears that you are running ESET NOD32 on a Server. If a Windows server, you should consider running ESET File Security for Windows Server as it has exclusions based on Server roles and is made with Server builds in mind and are lighter than the client builds due to this. You could then boost performance by following this KB article to set the File Security installation with the settings for a terminal server as notated in this ESET KB article: http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN2791

Lastly, you will want to ensure that the ESET setting to 'Scan Network Drives' is disabled. To do so, open the ESET application and press 'F5' > Expand 'Computer' > Expand 'Antivirus and Antispyware' > Click on "Real Time Filesystem Protection' > on the right, un-check 'Network Drives'.

Some items that I have noticed that may cause a workstation slowdown are the presence of 2 real time scan engines (Microsoft Security Essentials and ESET NOD32). Having 2 of these components active means that each file and some network traffic will be scanned twice for malicious content as files are being introduced into the system.

Next, it appears that you are running ESET NOD32 on a Server. If a Windows server, you should consider running ESET File Security for Windows Server as it has exclusions based on Server roles and is made with Server builds in mind and are lighter than the client builds due to this. You could then boost performance by following this KB article to set the File Security installation with the settings for a terminal server as notated in this ESET KB article: http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN2791

Lastly, you will want to ensure that the ESET setting to 'Scan Network Drives' is disabled. To do so, open the ESET application and press 'F5' > Expand 'Computer' > Expand 'Antivirus and Antispyware' > Click on "Real Time Filesystem Protection' > on the right, un-check 'Network Drives'.

Wow...you saved my butt.

It was the Real-Time Protection of MS Security Essentials that was the culprit. When I was trying to install PingPlotter to check for network latency, it took forever for the install window to appear. I kept on clicking on the install file thinking that I had click on the wrong spot, or I didn't click properly. After being busy with something else and checking 5 minutes later, found a bunch of install windows on the desktop. Realized then that MS Security Essentials was not just affecting our software accessed on the network, but that it was affecting programs being accessed locally as well. As soon as I disabled real-time protection, everything ran quickly and promptly.

Of all the times I've had experience working with MS Security Essentials, I've sometimes had minor issues with micro-delays (1 or 2 seconds) but never this bad.

Thanks again buddy.....

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